Day 3 was another wonderful day, and we all wore our matching Mickey tie dyed shirts. Monday, February 24, 2014 was also spent at sea. Our favorites were as follows with the top top top favorites starred.

Maddie’s Favorites

*** Aquaduck at night ***

Kid’s Club (“all of it”)

mickey waffles with strawberry sauce

Mickey bar

strawberry ice cream

Midship Detective

Enchanted Forest [she means Enchanted Garden]

swimming in the warm pool [what we all called the family hot tub]

Cullen’s Favorites

Mickey waffle

*** Aquaduck ***

Kid’s Club

strawberry ice cream

swimming in the warm pool

meeting Mickey and Peter Pan

that the Aquaduck “didn’t really hurt me. I got on it and slid down and nothing spiked me.”

Gabe’s Favorites

*** Aquaduck ***

strawberry ice cream at lunch

playing Disney trivia with Kerry and his mom

playing 70s music trivia with his parents

the compliments from everyone about our shirts

our picture with everyone and Mickey

getting to play trivia in general

the comedy/ventriloquist show

Kerry’s Favorites

*** Aquaduck at night with Cullen ***

Disney trivia!

getting to play trivia 3 times

how everyone around the ship reacted to our shirts

getting the picture of everyone with Mickey

Midship Detective and getting Gabe’s parents to play

Enchanted Garden

the comedy/ventriloquist show

Day 3 Summary and Photos

We debated what to do after waking up since we thought about taking the kids to the party with Jake (from Jake and the Neverland Pirates). The kids didn’t sound all that excited about it, so we just went to breakfast before heading to Mickey’s Puzzle Time at the club. We chose to eat at the breakfast buffet at Cabanas which the kids enjoyed. They were especially happy with their Mickey waffles.

I had toured the kid’s club with the kids at some point during Day 2. The kids seemed interested in going to try it out for Mickey’s Puzzle Time. We didn’t realize that it was an open house. We decided to give it a try, and that gave Gabe an opportunity to see the Oceaneer Club.

The Oceaneer Club has several themed rooms, and I had somehow missed Andy’s Room on our first visit. It was my favorite room.

The kids didn’t quite cooperate with my photo opportunity, but they were happy.

I also love the Monster’s Academy room.

The kids and I showed Gabe all the rooms in the club, and the kids played a little on the computers in the submarine before Mickey’s Puzzle Time started.

We had a difficult time getting our kids to participate in the organized activity. They didn’t want to interact with the characters including parading or doing the hokey pokey. Goofy, Pluto, and Mickey all came out to play and dance with the kids. Our kids just wanted to sit there (and take it in, I guess?). They just didn’t want to participate actively, but then they both said that they loved the club.

We had an even more difficult time convincing the kids to stay at the club. It was clear that they wanted to do it, but they were also nervous about it. They threw a few fits and had a few meltdowns. We also took a tour of the Oceaneer Lab. Both the Oceaneer Club and the Oceaneer Lab are for 3-12 year olds. The club is geared more towards the younger end of the age range, while the lab appeals to the older kids. After seeing the lab, I really thought that the kids would prefer to go in there. They had video games and craft centers in addition to organized activities. Cullen really wanted to go into the lab, mostly so that he could play MarioKart. For their first time in the club, we wanted them to stay together. We needed them to agree on which club to enter, and we told them that they could always ask to go to the other side (there’s a passage between the two). We finally convinced them to both go into the Oceaneer Club for an hour. I felt like we had the only two kids on the ship who didn’t want to play in the club! Most kids exclaimed that it was their favorite part of the cruise.

We ended up going to play Movie Quotes trivia while they were in the club. We teamed up with another couple, Aaron and Karen. We played trivia with them several more times while on the cruise. None of us did particularly well at the movie quotes, unfortunately!

We met up with Gabe’s mom and went to get the kids from the club. We were going to take the kids to the character dance party in the atrium. We did a few paintings from Midship Detective before the party, and we got Gabe’s mom started with Midship Detective.

We went to the dance party, but the kids were not in the mood. It was a bit too overwhelming and crowded for them, and they didn’t care about dancing and mingling with the characters. We went upstairs where we could watch some of the dance party and wait in line to meet Peter Pan. I remembered how fun it was to meet Peter Pan at Disney World, and he was able to engage the kids a little. Cullen posed with Peter Pan, but Maddie wasn’t in the mood for a picture.

We headed to Cabanas for lunch, and we decided we needed some downtime afterwards. We took the kids back to the room to rest, and I tried to get them to nap in the bed with me while Gabe was playing 70s Name that Tune trivia with his parents. Unfortunately, I put the “Service Please” side of the sign on the door instead of the “Do Not Disturb” side. Oops. Our room attendant knocked on the door, and any chances of napping were destroyed. Of course, it wasn’t likely that they were going to sleep, anyway! At least they got a little rest. Gabe came back to tag me into Know It All trivia with his parents. We apparently do NOT know it all, but it was fun to play. Disney trivia was next, and Gabe and the kids joined us for that one. I got most of the questions right, so that one was a lot of fun!

After the trivia, we did some more Midship Detective clues and headed to meet Gabe’s parents for our group photo in our shirts! They showed up late, and we weren’t sure if they were coming, so we went ahead and got our photo taken. They showed up about 5 minutes later, and Mick waited in line for Mickey while we did a few more Midship Detective clues. When we got back, it was time for our picture!

I was so glad that we did it! We headed over to meet Aladdin next.

We went scouting for more Midship Detective clues before heading to dinner.

The kids acted silly, as usual.

Sometimes Cullen requests for us to take his photo at various locations. This was a good choice (though the photo itself ended up a little subpar).

Dinner this night was at Enchanted Garden, which I thought was the prettiest dinner venue on the ship! I love the Animator’s Palate experience, but I thought that Enchanted Garden had the best decor.

Maddie enjoyed it and wanted her photo taken in several places. She posed by the fountain.

And she posed by the gate.

And by the “terrace.”

I love the rotational dining! It was one of the nights where they took our photo at the table as well.

After dinner, we headed back to get on our swimsuits. When we returned to our cabin, we saw that Bruno had left us another surprise! He left us some tasty sparkling cider.

We guessed that there would be almost no line at this time for the Aquaduck, and we were right! We couldn’t convince Mick, so we had to take turns riding. It seems like most of the time that the ship is at sea, the Aquaduck requires two riders due to “high winds.” The facial recognition worked out on the photos this time! First I rode with Cullen and Gabe rode with Maddie. Cullen barely made the height check as he recently measured exactly 42″ at his 4 year check up. Cullen claims that he loved the Aquaduck and that it was one of his favorite parts of the cruise, but he never wanted to do it again. The look on his face here indicates that perhaps it was a bit scary for him!

Maddie may have loved the Aquaduck more than any of us. She rode with Daddy and then rode again with Grandma. Cullen wasn’t willing to ride again, so we weren’t able to go more.

Riding at night was pretty cool! We were excited to have the opportunity, and it was great to have no lines.

It was fun at night, but it is a bit cold when you get off of it! Those of us waiting at the end of the ride had towels waiting to wrap up the riders. We then all headed to the family hot tub.

One of the best parts of the day was the Aquaduck and hot tub. It was a great idea to go after dinner, and I wish we had done this more (of course, it wasn’t always possible with show plans or just being worn out from the day).

We went back to the room and got everyone showered and put the kids to bed. Debbie came by to stay in the room a bit while the kids slept, and Gabe and I went to more Disney Trivia (we didn’t do as well at this one), Family Fusion (a family game show where they tried to guess what their family members thought they would answer), and the evening adult show with Michael Harrison (the comedian and ventriloquist). We ended up sitting next to Aaron and Karen at the show. We had a good time and are thankful that Debbie was willing to let us have some time out and about!

We returned after the show and organized what we needed to have for our excursion, ordered our room service breakfast, and went to bed.

One Response to “Disney Cruise 2014: Day 3, at sea”

I’m so glad that Cullen didn’t get “spiked” on the aquaduck! That cracked me up! You’ve got to wonder what he was invisioning! His face on the ride is priceless! The matching shirts look great! I’ve got a dress in the next size up that Maddie can wear in a year or two! It still fits Addie right now. I think I want to go on a Disney cruise just to sit in one of those giant port holes! Love that!